There are now 57,794 people without housing in L.A. County, up 23% from last year
By Gary Walker
The number of people sleeping on the streets, in vehicles or at emergency shelters throughout Los Angeles County has shot up 23% since last year, county officials announced Wednesday.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s annual homeless count, conducted in January, documented 57,794 homeless people — 42,828 of them living in vehicles or homeless encampments.
Last year’s count logged 46,874 homeless people, 34,701 of them unsheltered.
That’s a difference of 10,920 people overall, including 8,100 who were not in shelters.
“Homelessness in Los Angeles County has grown at a shocking rate. Even as work is being done to get thousands of people off the street and into housing, more and more people are becoming homeless,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose district includes Marina del Rey and Playa del Rey. “It is clear that if we are going to end the homeless crisis, we need to stem the overwhelming tide of people falling into homelessness.”
While 14,214 homeless people moved into permanent housing in 2016, the January 2017 count identified 21,935 people who were homeless for the first time in their lives — 8,044 of them homeless for the first time in the past 12 months.
“It’s disheartening,” said Booker Pearson, a Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority commissioner who lives in Playa del Rey. “Income and wealth inequality is a big part of this, and until we can provide more ‘bridge’ housing and a place for people to go right now, we’re not going to make a dent in this thing.”
In Westside neighborhoods, homelessness increased 18%, a slightly lower rate than for all of Los Angeles County and for the city of Los Angeles as a whole (20%). A neighborhood-by-neighborhood breakdown was not immediately available.
The city of Santa Monica, included in the Westside total, saw a simultaneous 26% year-over-year spike in citywide homelessness, from 728 people to 921. Last year the count logged 416 homeless people in outdoor encampments (excluding vehicles and shelters), that number climbing to 581 this year — an increase of more than 39%, said Santa Monica Human Services Administrator Margaret Willis.
John Maceri, executive director of Santa Monica-based nonprofit OPPC (formerly the Ocean Park Community Center) — the largest social services organization on the Westside — had expected to see an increase in homelessness but was still taken aback by the scope of that increase.
“I wasn’t surprised that the numbers were up,” he said, “but I was surprised at the total percentages. We’ve seen a huge explosion of homelessness in downtown and in other cities in the county.”
Community leaders do see hope on the horizon, however, in two voter-approved tax measures that will soon begin to fund housing and services for the homeless and those at risk of homelessness.
L.A. County Measure H will generate $350 million a year for homeless services, and L.A. City Proposition HHH will raise $1.2 billion over 10 years for affordable housing construction.
“In March, voters overwhelmingly approved Measure H — the largest investment in solutions to homelessness in our county’s history. These latest homeless count numbers only add to the importance of the work we will do in the next few months spending the Measure H funds,” Hahn said.
“Things are coming together,” said Pearson. “We’ve done so much locally to turn this thing around, and I’m very optimistic that we will.”
Of course the number of homeless are increasing! With all the free handouts funded by taxpayers and no accountability imposed on these people to get into programs to rejoin society, they are flocking here from other states.
It was a big mistake to build 10,000 homes for homeless, instead of creating 10,000 jobs for them… The property owners taxes will be raised to pay to invite more homeless people into our neighborhoods …. “BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME”… Mike Bonnin made a big mistake by inviting more homeless to come here from all around the country for “FREE” housing.. Now the police force will have to be increased to protect us from more crimes that people without JOBS. will commit..More cost to the property owners..Bonnin should be recalled and replaced with someone who cares about the people he is supposed to serve…..
Having served on a non-profit board affordable housing developer for 13 years, I respectfully disagree with Commissioner Pearson. The City and County are not taking appropriate steps to deal with the homeless issue. All we are offered is: “We are trying.” We need to be results oriented and follow the best practices of cities like NYC. We need to set-up a shelter system that reflects the concentrations of the homeless. On the day after the election, the Mayor should have announced the first fifteen sites (one for each councilmanic district), plus five additional sites in DTLA where homeless housing and triage services (a client determination for agency referral and children, job loss, veterans and drug/alcohol and mental illness) would be built. Instead, LA is trying to figure out how to politically allocate the money they receive amongst 19 separate agencies. At a minimum, it takes 14 months to design and permit a 50 unit housing project. (Every 50 units creates 100 jobs.) The city has the money now. Get on with it.
A huge percentage of Americans between the ages of 35 and 60, who are not “one-percenters” in income are one–ONE–job loss or illness away from losing the roof over their heads for good. Once you “fall off the grid” of Acceptable American Society and become jobless and homeless, if you’re much over 40, you’re pretty much off that grid for good, unless you get real lucky.
If that weren’t true, there would not be a grotesque increase in suicides among white men between the ages of 45 and 64, nationwide. So shame on some of you for perpetuating the myth that people flock to any other state to enjoy “homeless benefits”, or that people don’t deserve help. That’s a disgusting way to try to de-humanize other human beings and it’s tiresome and disheartening to read such pure ignorance over and over.
Good grief, one can only hope that those of you who would float such notions in print never have to experience homelessness for yourselves–you’ll be the ones whining the loudest because you no longer enjoy any kind of privilege at all, and you just can’t understand How It Happened. Good luck in the future, you need it more than I do….
Mike Bonin was re-elected in March based on three campaign promises:
1. Ending homelessness
2. Reducing traffic
3. Delivering core services for our neighborhoods
Under his watch, homelessness continues to rise rapidly, traffic is considerably worse (Mar Vista “Great Street” and Playa Del Rey “Safe Streets”), and good luck getting a pot hole fixed or with quick response time from police or fire departments.
Why does LA City Council member continue to receive a “free pass” or “Get of out Jail” card when it comes to his utter failure to address the issue of homelessness?
Four years later after numerous promises and billions allocated for his failed agenda, I find it incredible he is absent from comment or insight as to why we have a 23% increase.
Now safely nestled in a new, five and a half year term, does anyone actually believe he will do anything that will make a dent in the spike in homeless?
Even LA Supervisor Janice Hahn’s near idiotic statement about the state of the homeless is almost as disturbing as to lack of action by county government as well as Mr. Bonin and Mayor Eric Garcetti.
Instead of polluting the airwaves at LAX with continuous public service messages Mr. Mayor, maybe you can actually come to Venice and specifically Third Street or OFW along with Council member Bonin and tour the moral devastation that exists on the streets of Venice in a community where home prices are surging while homelessness continues to thrive without a legitimate public policy solution by you or Mr. Bonin. It is just another reason why city-hood for Venice is the only true and viable option.
How either of you cannot be embarrassed by your collective inability to address the state of the homeless is mind-boggling.
Nick Antonicello
Venice Beach
The increase in minimum wage is a direct contributor. As wages go up, jobs are cut and the money goes to China or India. Higher minimum wages not not make more jobs, or more income; it makes less. The best solution is to eliminate minimum wage. Then, endless new jobs will be created here, in the under-$15/hr range, and money will stop going overseas.